‘Is this… still a rookie?’

Tegar had thought that he was one of the top rankers of his generation. He had only taken about a month to progress into the 4th stage of the Meta rank after all. He had been fighting longer than his opponent.

The difference should have been big enough to allow Tegan to easily dominate the battlefield. Turns out, dominance on the battlefield didn’t necessarily correlate with the number of days one had spent in the Oasis.

Wind Wall.

Tegan cast his spell and blocked the lightning-element weapon spell from harming him just in time. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he was once again attacked with the same speed and decisiveness by his opponent.

Wind Blade.

Tegan met Viktor’s weapon spell with a spell of his own. But before the spells could clash with each other, Viktor had changed his position once again.

Duck. Throw. Punch.

A swordsman uses a punch by throwing his weapon. This was an absurd event even for a rookie match. Yet, Viktor had decided to use Jeet Kune Do when nobody had expected him to.

Viktor’s punch struck Tegan’s right shoulder before a depression appeared. Vik followed that punch with an elbow attack by folding the same arm and stepping dangerously close to the opponent’s striking range. Before he could do anything, Vik used the same folded arm to connect with Tegan’s chin using his lightning-coated mana.

A punch to the heart followed by an elbow attack on one’s solar plexus. Then use the same arm to launch an uppercut. The series of actions were completed seamlessly, making them look like a single move.

Swoosh.

Tegan flew in the air before landing outside the battle ring. The guy didn’t even have time to register his pain as his consciousness faded.

The cheering crowd suddenly quieted down when they saw only one opponent in the pit. They looked at the body that had just landed outside and recognized it to be Tegan.

Dueling between two rookies was over in a few seconds as one of the opponents was thrown out of the ring and lost consciousness.

People started murmuring as they watched the referee checking up on Tegan as a formality. They were eyeing Viktor with curiosity in their eyes, completely ignoring Tegan who they didn’t know about previously.

“This…. Victor? Have you heard his name? Is this guy still a rookie?”

“I guess.

A lightning-element ranker that has exceptional control over their movement spell. Abandoning swordplay and opting for martial arts.

I would have remembered someone like him.”

Several rankers discussed Viktor’s performance. One of them looked at the distant figure of Keith who had just flown against his opponent before voicing his thoughts.

“I wonder who would win between two lightning-element rankers. Keith and this newbie.”

The other ranker heard his friend’s statement and chuckled before answering him.

“Heh. We will find out soon enough if the rookie decides to play next week. It’s interesting to see a promising rookie getting squashed by a veteran. Hehehe.”

***

The organizers were a bit suspicious of Eren when he was introduced to them by Ekay in the former’s updated avatar. That’s why they had paired him up with Tegan who was also a newbie. However, they would start treating him seriously now that he had surprised them with his unusual battle style.

Ekay had also taken part in the battle in a different pit. Therefore, he was shocked when he found Eren waiting for him. Ekay mirthlessly smiled when he came to realize that Eren was surprisingly comfortable with the underground setup.

Ekat and Eren drove off in their respective cars after getting out of the abandoned factory. Eren will be informed about the next event by Ekay once he learns of it.

Ekay had also warned Eren that his performance was just too surprising for the event organizers. So they had decided to pit him against Keith who was one of their star performers.

“Will there be bigger pay for fighting with a famous star?”

Eren asked while he was on a halo-call with Ekay while driving. The latter chuckled before giving him the news he wanted to hear.

“Of course, Eren. I couldn’t believe it when you managed to win 120 Mana Quartz on your first try by just investing 10. But that was against a rookie. So you could manage to take that risk.

Hahaha. You did good, Eren. If I had known that you would win so decisively, I would have put my own money on you as well.

Still, I suggest you take it easy on your next match and don’t bet this high on yourself. Keith is not your average Joe who would let you win this easily.

See you at the guild tomorrow, man. Over and out.”

Ekay cut his call, allowing Eren to be left alone with his thoughts as he drove. He couldn’t help smiling to himself as he thought of all the money he had gained just by being in the ring for a few seconds.

‘Kieth? I don’t give a fuck about any Keith or Kin. If there’s money to be made, I’ll beat him ten times over.’

Eren narrowed his eyes as he started crafting his plans. The next underground match was within a week. The stakes would be even higher. The profits he would earn at that time would be even more significant.

He just needed to win. He was not conceited enough to assume that he would manage to beat anyone like Keith without any effort. He could also understand that what had happened tonight was a one-off thing. Something that the organizers weren’t expecting him to do. But now that they knew his style, they would only pair him up with strong opponents.

Keith was just the first from their lineup.

‘Heh. I can always depend on the progress made on Gilaahan to pull this off. After all, I’ll have more than a month in the numbered Oasis to prepare for the fight.’

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